The central government plans to invest more than CNY500 billion to make Yunnan a Southeast Asian gateway. “Yunnan is our nation’s land passage to Southeast Asia and South Asia. Its strategic position is very important,” the government said. Authorities want to improve the province’s transport, logistics, energy, waterways and information infrastructure by 2015, and to complete several links to Southeast Asia by 2020. The central government has called for the completion of a railway linking Kunming, Yunnan’s capital, Changsha, and Hangzhou as well as a line between Dali in Yunnan and Ruili on the China-Myanmar border. It also wants expressways built, including one between Kunming and Guangzhou. In addition, it designated the new Kunming airport as a major aviation hub for western China, with auxiliary airports in cities including Lijiang, Dali and Shangri-La. In July, the Ministry of Transport signed a partnership agreement with Yunnan supporting the province’s plan to invest CNY500 billion in 126 projects to transform the province into a transport hub by 2015. This was two months after Yunnan Highway Investment, an investment arm of the Yunnan government, announced it could not repay CNY90 billion in bank loans for highway construction projects. “China is trying to accomplish several goals via infrastructure and energy projects in Yunnan. One goal is to decrease dependence on the Straits of Malacca, where 80% of its oil imports currently pass through,” Paul Donowitz of Earthrights International said.